How to Save Money On Food By Wasting Less

Your home probably spends $1,000 a year on edible food that is never eaten. In the US the average is $900 a year, in the UK it’s £700 and in Australia it’s over $1,000!

We don’t waste food on purpose, but somehow between the demands of our busy lives and being bombarded with food on sale we’ve got in the habit of wasting a colossal amount of food.

On this page I’m going to share 5 simple habits that have helped our family save food and money. This isn’t some program you need to follow step by step. If you think one of the steps might work for you, start with that one!

Habit 1: Weigh Your Waste

The food you want to weigh is anything that was edible when you purchased it. Exclude things like cores, peel, skins and bone, and liquids if it’s too messy. It doesn’t matter if you use pounds, kilograms, ounces . . . just weigh it and keep a record!

Habit 2: Plan Your Perishables

This one is a big money saver. Whether you use a shopping list, meal plan, smart phone app or website to plan your shop , the key is to make it as simple as possible. Because simple sticks. Love Food Hate Waste have some great menu planning tools and tips.

Habit 3: Perfect Your Portions

Although this solution is incredibly simple, you may be surprised by how effective it is. Getting better control of portion sizes also extends to buying pre-prepared meals. Buying overly large portions that you fail to finish can be a big source of unnecessary cost in the weekly food bill.

Habit 4: Shuffle Your Storage

Even if you plan your perishables well, you’ll still have bits and pieces of food at risk of not being used on time. Shuffling the food in your fridge, fruit bowl, bread tin and cupboards creates a useful reminder of what you need to use up.

Habit 5: Dedicate Your Day

Dedicating one day a week to use up food is brilliant fun! Because food that is going to waste soon is often quite random this habit provides never-ending variety. Check out Food52 if you need some inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by!

If you made it this far congratulations. Food waste isn’t exactly riveting. If you found this useful you could do two things to help us out

1) Share this page with your friends via social or good old speech

2) Send us some feedback via lindsay@shrinkthatfootprint.com

I particularly love hearing from people who have some weekly measurements.